City puts new Chicago Cubs' batting cages on hold

A $684,000 contract to build covered batting cages for Chicago Cubs training at Fitch park is on hold until the team indicates it is willing to stay in Mesa.

The City Council approved the contract unanimously Thursday, but told City Manager Chris Brady not to sign it, authorizing construction to begin, until there are some positive vibes from Chicago.

"We don't think it's in the best interest of the citizens of Mesa to make this kind of investment when we have no commitment at all as to whether the Cubs are even going to negotiate to be here," Mayor Scott Smith said.

Brady was leaving Thursday afternoon to meet with Cubs officials in Chicago as they consider whether to leave Mesa after almost 60 years and move their training operations to Naples, Fla., which has made an aggressive bid for the Cactus League's most popular and lucrative team.

The proposal to build the batting cages first surfaced last week in the form of a resolution that would authorize Brady to sign a contract with an unspecified firm for up to $750,000 for construction.

City staffers said that unusual, speeded-up approach was necessary because the winning bid wouldn't be known in time for approval at this week's regular council meeting, the last of the year, and they wanted the cages to be ready for practice in February.

But the council said it wanted to follow normal procedures, which require that it vote on final a written contract. They called a special regular meeting before Thursday's study session to do that. The winning bid was submitted by McCarthy Building Cos.

News of Mesa's offer to build the batting cages hit the Chicago media within minutes of being posted last week on azcentral.com. But Smith said reaction from the Cubs was disheartening.

"The silence that came out of Chicago and the Cubs was deafening," he said, and the one-week lag between when the idea surfaced and Thursday's vote gave the council and other officials time to reassess whether to rush into construction.

Brady's meetings in Chicago will determine whether the cages get built, Smith said.

"If he has a positive experience and we get some commitments from the Cubs . . . basically just a commitment that they're going to deal with us in good faith, then we could move ahead with the construction," he said.

"If we don't get those (commitments), then we could delay those indefinitely."

Smith said he expects Brady to report the outcome of his Chicago talks to council members early next week. "He'll report to us probably one-on-one. . . . If we need to come back into session to deal with that, we will."

The next scheduled council meeting is Jan. 11; McCarthy's winning bid will expire after 60 days.

"We wanted to send a message that we're dealing in good faith," Smith said. "We're committed to spring training in Mesa, whether it's the Chicago Cubs or whoever. . . . We did not want this to be misconstrued as we're pulling this completely off the table."

On the other hand, he said. "We're looking for a commitment. We don't want this to be a one-way street, and we're not seeing that commitment right now. No negative, (but) we just haven't seen that positive commitment."

The batting cages would be housed in two 5,000-square-foot buildings designed to protect high-tech cameras and other equipment used to improve players' swings.

City engineer Beth Huning said that depending on when construction begins, the cages could still be ready before spring training ends in late March.